Indy: Admit you were pissed about hard rock's Seether naming themselves after your '90s hit single.
LP: I was really annoyed when I heard that — and then, at the same time, it's sort of flattering.
Indy: Here's some flattery for you: It seems as though the 2000 Veruca Salt album Resolver left you emotionally scarred.
LP: I went through a lot on Resolver, with my split from [former bandmate] Nina [Gordon]. I really wanted it to be huge, but it didn't sell as well. I was totally shell-shocked and didn't know what to do next. In hindsight, it seems like, "Well, you get back in the studio and record another record." But it felt like, "The stakes were so high, and now I can't face the world again." And I was terrified.
Indy: It's like your own personal Pinkerton experience, when a defeated Rivers Cuomo attended Harvard University to clear his head for a few years.
LP: At least he went to Harvard. I didn't necessarily do something incredibly productive with that time. I just sort of receded.
Indy: Is it safe to assume Veruca Salt's new album IV finds you in a better place?
LP: Oh, yeah. It felt like it was a fight before, and it feels like less of a struggle now.
Veruca Salt's IV hit stores Sept. 12.
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